Professor and Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley says there’s no “cognizable basis” for the House Republican Conference to initiate impeachment proceedings against Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas.
House Republicans released articles of impeachment against Mayorkas over the weekend, accusing Mayorkas of lying to Congress when he claimed “that the border is ‘secure,’ that the border is ‘no less secure than it was previously,’ that the border is ‘closed,’ and that DHS has ‘operational control’ of the border.”
Beyond breaching the public trust, House Republicans accuse Mayorkas of noncompliance with the law and lawful oversight of the Department of Homeland Security.
Turley made his counterargument on Monday’s edition of “Fox & Friends.”
Mediaite’s Colby Hall reports:
“We know over the last, unfortunately, a number of years, impeachment is for treason or bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors,” Steve Doocy started the interview before asking, “Does Mr. Mayorkas, has he done any of those things yet?”
“I don’t think they have established any of those bases for impeachment,” Turley replied. “The fact is, impeachment is not for being a bad cabinet member or even a bad person. It is a very narrow standard.”
He then explained how the framers of the Constitution rejected terms like “maladministration” to avoid this very thing. “Past Congresses have recognized that there’s a danger to this once you cross the Rubicon and start to remove cabinet members because they’re not doing a good job.”
“I just don’t believe that they have a cognizable basis here for impeachment,” Turley concluded. However, he did agree with Republican criticism of what he called President Joe Biden’s “open border.”
Turley became well-known as a constitutional law professor at George Washington University. He also testified as a GOP witness in the impeachment trials of Presidents Clinton and Trump.
The House Committee on Homeland Security plans to consider the charges against Mayorkas on Tuesday. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he will bring the resolution to a floor vote “as soon as possible.”
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